So imagine this. You left your house for almost a day and came back to it before sunset. Then, you found a girl who was only wearing her underwear and a towel around her shoulders in your bathroom. What would you do at a time like that?

“I guess I should say thank you for starters?” I muttered with a confused face after I tilted my head.

With that response, the girl with bright copper hair became bewildered. She immediately covered her chest with an arm and her crotch area with her other hand.

“C-Can you please... get out first for a second?” she said with reddened cheeks and averted her gaze from me.

“R-right!” I immediately followed when I realized the situation was real. I exited the door and closed it.

“Prince?” Pixie asked after she zipped to me. “Is it only me or someone’s there?”

“Yeah...” I responded to the small fairy with a stern expression. “A princess is here.”

“What?” Pixie reacted, astounded.

“But first, I need to call someone,” I continued and ran towards the living room to call my mother. After a few rings, she finally answered it.

“Hello, Prince?” Mom asked on the other side of the phone.

“Uhmm... there’s someone here in the house. I only left this morning and when I came back, this girl is already taking a bath here. What’s happening here?” I asked with furrowed eyebrows. “You’re the one behind this, aren’t you?”

“Why are you talking to me like I’m a villain? Anyway, I think that’s Bella, the daughter of my friend Mauricio. Didn’t I tell you a few days ago that I might hire someone? That’s Bella’s work now and she’ll clean and cook for you there while we’re still here in abroad.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t say yet that your stay there got extended. And I’m not even informed that she already has a key to the house.”

She laughed and responded, “Sorry about that. Yeah, we need to stay here for around a month again so I’ll leave all the house chores to Bella for now. Her key is the hidden one below that flower pot. So duplicate yours so she could have her own while she’s staying there.”

“So you trust that girl already,” I commented with squinted eyes.

“If you’re having trust issues again, don’t be because I know her father well. In fact, I even met Bella already a few times and I know she’s a nice girl. Anyway, trust Bella there and let her do the house chores.”

I let out a deep sigh and replied, “Jeez. I got it.”

“And I heard that she’s a teacher in your school if I’m not mistaken? So the two of you might hit it off,” Mom followed in a teasing tone.

“She’s teaching at my school all right. But can she do the job while teaching in the day?” I asked with doubts.

“Well, her father said that because of some certain circumstances, she’s suspended on her job for the time being. So Mauricio offered to make her help there.”

“Suspended?” I repeated, surprised by what I heard.

“You better ask her if you’re interested.”

“I see. Anyway, that’s all I want to ask for now.”

“Then, bye. Take care there and treat her well,” she said in a cheerful tone.

“Right, right.”

“And don’t try indecent things to her only because you’re alone with an older cute girl,” she followed and snickered right after.

“Like I’ll do something like that!” I retorted and ended the call. “Jeez.”

“So... the next princess will stay here for the time being?” Pixie asked who was on standby behind me.

“Seems like it,” I answered with a serious face after I faced her. “But let’s hear it from her first.”

Soon enough, Ms. Bella came out of the bathroom. She was wearing a white shirt with ‘symmetry’ written on it, with buildings as background. She was also wearing yellow short shorts and cute bunny-like slippers. She gave me an awkward smile and both of us sat down on the sofa.

“Sorry about earlier,” she apologized with a slight bow.

“That’s—” I reacted, not prepared to hear those words. “I’m the one that should apologize. Sorry for... entering the bathroom without knocking.”

She lifted her head and looked at me with a smile.

“It’s my fault for not locking it. I arrived here in the morning but you’re not home so I called your mother. She said that I could enter because you might come home late, so that’s what I did. I also got permission to clean the house and cook for dinner, so...”

“You mean...” I whispered and looked around. There, I noticed that everything was cleaner compared to when I left in the morning. The tiles on the floor were even shining. And I could smell a nice citrus-like scent around the house.

“But I didn’t enter and clean any rooms yet. I’m waiting for your permission first before I could clean those.”

This girl... is an expert!

“Sorry for the late introduction. My name is Prince. My mother might’ve told you some things about me. So that might be enough information about me for now, so ask some questions if you have any. Nice to meet you,” I introduced with a poker face.

“And my name is Bella, nice to meet you too, Prince,” she smiled cheerfully. “Anyway, you’re... studying at FTS Academy, right?”

FTS Academy is the name of the school that I’m attending right now. But how did she know that? There are too many students there for her to know me. She didn’t even become my teacher in my two years there. I guess my Mom told her.

“Yeah. And you’re teaching there, right? I see you from time to time... though I haven’t studied under you yet,” I responded.

“I knew it... so you’re that Prince,” she reacted in happiness.

“That?”

“You’re famous throughout the faculty, you know. You’re the smart and diligent junior that took the top spot in this year’s midterms, right?”

“I... see...” I replied, slightly surprised.

Well, I guess being on top really makes someone famous.

“Anyway...” she muttered and looked above my head. “Why are you... wearing a crown?”

When I heard that, I became surprised and covered it with two hands.

“Uhmm... this is...” I answered, a little flustered. “A fashion sense... I guess.”

“I... see...” Ms. Bella reacted with a smile. “It’s quite unique to wear though.”

“That’s true all right,” I muttered and fixed my glasses instead.

“And... that small fairy?” she asked and looked at Pixie, who was floating right beside me.

“I forgot she can see me!” Pixie reacted in a surprised look.

Now, how the heck should I explain her?

“Uhmm... this is...” I responded as I looked back and forth to Pixie and Ms. Bella. “It’s a technology my father developed. It’s a ‘Holographic Artificial Intelligence Assistant’ named Pixie.”

I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore.

“How amazing~” Ms. Bella reacted, amazed. “Your father is a Computer Engineer, right? I can’t believe how technology can bring us those futuristic concepts to reality. Science is so amazing!”

Did she believe that?

“Th-that’s right. I’m a ‘Holographic-Artificial-Something’ named Pixie,” she introduced with an awkward smile.

At least remember the setting I gave you!

“But nice to meet you, Princess Bella,” Pixie continued with sudden cheerfulness.

“So it can even introduce itself. Pixie... right? But why Princess? You don’t have to call me like that. You can call me Bella,” she said to Pixie with a smile.

“Okay, Bella.”

“Anyway, I heard from Mom that you’re off from your work. Did something happen?”

“That’s...” she muttered with a slightly surprised face and made a dejected look after. She then looked down. “You see... two students fought before my class started. This girl started cursing the other girl so bad that the one who received bad words started crying. Even the entire class felt bad hearing that, so I stepped up. I tried to stop her from insulting the other girl, but she didn’t even listen. Instead, she even tried to grab the hair of the other girl, so I slapped her on the face.”

“You... slapped her?” I reacted, astonished.

“Yeah,” she replied with a sad smile. “I want to stop her but I ended up hurting her. But because of that, my license is on the verge of getting revoked.”

I read in a law book that as a teacher, hurting your students through physical means is illegal in our country. So if a teacher raised a hand to a student, that teacher may lose the job and license in teaching. Back when I read it, I only raised an eyebrow. Then, I commented, ‘Well, hurting a student isn’t a good thing to do after all’. But now that I encountered a real-life case, I can now say that thinking like that was irresponsible. There are lots of reasons for something to happen. Looking at it on one side will not be enough, and that is the problem to that law.

“Is it that bad?” I asked in a worried look. “I mean, if it looks like an accident, you can get away from it and not lose your license.”

As a reply, she nodded with a gloomy smile and answered, “Yeah. We already got called in the division office and interviewed all the ones involved. So we’re now waiting for the result of it, but I think it’s still in my favor.”

“I will shave my head if they sided with that violent and foul-mouthed girl from your story.”

When she heard that, she chuckled awkwardly and responded, “She’s not a bad girl though. I guess she only got raised a little lax because her parents were still on her side back then. Even though almost everyone already informed them about their daughter’s character.”

“Ms. Bella....” I whispered after I saw how sad her expression was.

“But I can’t blame them. I hurt their daughter. That’s what parents need to do, right?” she followed with a forced smile.

“Well, that’s how some parents are but... they shouldn’t allow their daughter to be like that. Instead of blaming others, they should focus on correcting her,” I said with a serious face.

Because of my reply, Ms. Bella gave me a warm smile.

“Thank you... for getting worried about me.”

I averted my gaze and replied, “That’s all I could do anyway so you don’t have to thank me from that.”

After that, Ms. Bella stood up and asked, “Well... I’m already done cooking earlier so want to have dinner now?”

“S-sure,” I answered and stood up too.

With that decided, we walked towards the dining room. Ms. Bella insisted that I should only sit down while I wait for her to serve me food. So I agreed and invited her to eat together with me. So after I sat down before the dining table, Ms. Bella placed the dishes and plates on the dining table. After she finished, she sat down at the seat in front of me and gave me a smile. The dinner was chicken curry. As the aroma of the dish in front of us wafted around the dining area, we started our dinner.

“Delicious...” I whispered with a slightly stunned expression after I tasted the dish together with rice.

“I’m glad you like it,” Ms. Bella muttered with a smile and continued her meal.

It was delicious beyond words. You can taste the right amount of spice on it that brought harmony to the different tastes found in the dish. Also, the chicken meat was juicy and flavorful. And the potatoes and carrots on it were tender. It was on par with Cindy’s cooking.

“It’s very delicious!” Pixie reacted in bliss after she chomped my food with a spoon as tall as her.

What the heck is this fairy doing? I introduced you as an A.I. you know! You can’t show her you can eat!

“So she can eat too. Science is so amazing,” Ms. Bella commented with a radiant smile.

Is this teacher.... fine in the head? At least have a little doubt about things around you!

“Uhmm... can I ask something?” I questioned Ms. Bella.

“What is it?”

“Do you know someone my age with a name Rosa? She looks like you, so maybe she’s your little sister or a relative.”

The similarity of their face is uncanny, after all.

“Well... I don’t have a little sister and... I don’t think I have someone in my relatives that looks like me.”

I guess it’s only a coincidence.

After we finished dinner, Ms. Bella washed the dishes as I chilled in the living room while watching the television.

“What kind of princess is Ms. Bella anyway?” I whispered to myself as I stared at the screen. “We’re done with Little Mermaid and Cinderella so I guess she’s also a famous one like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty.”

“Well, the curse should’ve revealed its effect the day you opened the book. So it’s a bit intriguing that she’s not showing any signs of it. I guess she’s like Cindy where the curse is hard to guess the form it took,” Pixie answered while seated next to me.

“Well, all we could do is to wait, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“But now that I realized it, I don’t have to make every princess fall for me because I’m the prince, right? I mean, look at Arian and Cindy’s cases. The things I did to undo their curses aren’t even romance related.”

“So are you saying that you will not try making Bella fall for you this time?”

“Well... I guess so. Unless I needed to.”

Pixie then smiled and flew up before my face.

“If you say so then. I’ll believe in your decision.”

“Thanks,” I responded and smiled too. “But first, I need to know what kind of curse she has. I hope that I can save her like Arian and Cindy because failing isn’t even an option.”

♦ Bella’s Point-of-View ♦

“F*ck this...” I tsked in irritation while I washed the dishes. “To think someone will see me naked here. I guess I shouldn’t have accepted this job after all.”